The Sun Behind the Clouds- Tibet's Struggle for Freedom
The Controversy with the China Gov't "Interferring with Palm Springs' Internal Affairs"
by Sunny Sun-Downer (the unedited version of the article published in the current Desert Valley Star newspaper)
"With unusual intimate access, filmmakers Tenzin Sonam and his wife Ritu Sarin find a unique perspective on the Dalai Lama's trials and tribulations and follow him over an eventful year, including the 2008 protests in Tibet, the Long March in India, the Beijing Olympics and the breakdown of talks with China," reads the Palm Springs International Film Festival's description of a film that has unexpectedly created an international controversy between the governments of China and Tibet, "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom."
Not only has the Chinese Government closed down one of the film industry's biggest marketing tools, IMDb.com (Internet Movie Database- a user-generated movie review website) in the past week, undoubtedly due to the controversy they created by "meddling in Palm Springs' internal affairs," but there is controversy within the controversy regarding the two Chinese films pulled out of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. In "protest" of the festival's inclusion of the Pro-Tibet film "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom," the two films, "Quick, Quick, Slow" and "City of Life and Death" (also called "Nanjing! Nanjing!) were pulled in the festival's first week. The first film is a comedy about ordinary people taking part in a dance competition n China, while "City of Life and Death" is about the 1937 invasion of China by Japan (which is ironic in that "The Sun Behind the Clouds..." covers the Chinese Government's invasion of Tibet in the 1950's).
IMDb.com now joins Facebook, Youtube and Twitter as banned websites in China.
The "controversy in the controversy" regards the exposing of the Chinese government's withdrawing the films from the festival, and then attempting to spin the decision as having been taken by one of the Chinese film directors.
Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, reported that Lu Chuan, the director of “City of Life and Death," had himself made the decision to withdraw from the film festival. According to Xinhua, “Lu was informed Monday that ‘The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom’ would be screened during the festival and immediately notified his film's distributor in North America of his quitting, Lu's publicity assistant Wang Dan said. The India-produced documentary tells mainly of the Dalai Lama's "secessionist" activities in 2008. Lu Chuan said, ‘All activities overseas of my film should serve China's interests and safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity.’”
The Xinhua report contradicts a report from The Hollywood Reporter saying “Chinese State-run 'China Film Group' had pulled ‘City of Life and Death’” from the Palm Springs International Film Festival to protest the event’s inclusion of a film about the Dalai Lama, director Lu Chuan said Wednesday.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lu said a “government department ... demanded China Film pull the movie.”
The Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which runs through January 18, Darryl Macdonald, released a formal statement that said: “After meeting with representatives from the Chinese government regarding their request to cancel our screenings of ‘The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom,’ we have respectfully declined their request. I’m saddened that the Chinese film authorities have chosen to withdraw their films from PSIFF, as the Festival is an international cultural event whose mandate is to present a wide cross section of perspectives and points of view. That said, we cannot allow the concerns of one country or community to dictate what films we should or should not play, based on their own cultural or political perspective. Freedom of expression is a concept that is integral both to the validity of artistic events, and indeed, to the ethos of this country.” Macdonald said he was also told by Chinese government officials that by including the Tibet film “he was going against the position of the U.S. government, which doesn’t recognize Tibet as independent of China, but Macdonald said he responded, ‘Sorry, this is an arts event and we believe in freedom of expression.’”
International Campaign for Tibet then issued a statement: "Government constraints on freedom of expression within China are entrenched. Those who would exercise this inalienable and fundamental freedom by saying things that the Chinese government or Communist Party objects to - whether in film, on the internet or any public platform – can face criminal charges of ‘inciting subversion’ and other serious consequences. In this context, it is especially gratifying that private citizens outside China so clearly understand what is at stake. By refusing to bow to Chinese government intimidation, they stand up for those who risk much to establish a free and more open society in China,” said Mary Beth Markey, ICT Vice President for International Advocacy.
In a written reaction, the directors of "The Sun Behind the Clouds...," Ritu Sarin and (Tibetan exile) Tenzing Sonam said: “It is clear that the directors of these films had no choice in the matter and were as much victims of their government’s authoritarian policies as we, the intended targets, were meant to be. As China now feels emboldened enough to attempt to impose its will on independent cultural events in a country as powerful and as symbolic of the right to free speech and expression as the United States of America, we can begin to understand the extent of repression within its own borders. It is not surprising that even as the Chinese government was putting pressure on PSIFF to remove our film from its line-up, it imposed a six-year sentence on Tibetan filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, (whose unsettling film, "Leaving Fear Behind" debuted at Urban Yoga in Palm Springs in 2008) for making a film that showed the true feelings of Tibetans in Tibet about their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, and their situation under Chinese rule.” It has been reported that not only was he beaten and tortured for his truthful expose, he has also been infected with hepatitis in Chinese prison, and those interested in protesting his draconian sentence are encouraged to go to the Students for a Free Tibet website http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/dhondupwangchensentenced
Also, for those wanting facts that clearly refute China's claim that Tibet has always been a part of their country, which they use to justify their (far from) "peaceful liberation" of Tibet over 50 years ago, please go to such sites as the following: http://www.jamyangnorbu.com/blog/2009/02/25/a-losar-gift-for-rangzen-activists/
And finally, if you can make it, the Palm Springs Int. Film Festival added one more screening of this AH-mazing film, Sat. Jan. 16th, 10 am Annenburg Theater at the PS Art Museum-
http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=21166&FID=40
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